How to Make Two Ingredient Whole Grain Kamut Pasta from Scratch
Introduction
Who doesn’t love pasta?
It is arguably one of the best comfort foods that exists.
When I became aware of the tremendous health benefits of eating fresh whole grain products which contain the nutritious germ and bran, I started wondering whether I could make my own whole grain pasta at home.
From Rolling Pin to Pasta Machine
If you have watched any episodes of Pasta Grannies on Youtube, these lovely experienced older ladies give the first impression that hand made pasta is quite easy.
I have not found that to be the case when working with whole grain flour.
At first, I tried creating a simple pasta sheet with a rolling pin but I couldn’t get the sheet to be consistently thin and see through as advised in most recipes.
Even a professional Italian rolling pin did not help this novice pasta maker.
As my official taste tester, my poor husband had to go through many trials of cooked “lumps of dough” as he described them.
Working with whole grain flour made the process more difficult as the bran can tear through the dough and it must be handled more gently.
Finally, I caved in and purchased a manual hand cranked pasta machine.
The pasta machine was a major improvement.
I was now able to create consistently thin pasta sheets.
Pasta Machine “Kneading”
Another breakthrough came from watching Chef Bruno Albouze’s YouTube video on pasta making.
Most pasta making instructions call for kneading the dough for several minutes.
What I learned from Chef Albouze is that with a pasta machine, the hand kneading is simply not necessary.
Folding the dough and rolling it through the pasta machine at the widest setting five or six times replaces kneading.
There are rest times needed after the mixing stage and after the pasta machine “kneading stage” which is why the start to finish time for this recipe is a couple of hours.
Dividing the Dough and Sheets
If you have read through or seen videos on using a pasta machine, you may have seen some instances where increasingly long sheets of pasta are effortlessly passed through the machine.
With practice, that is likely to be the case for you as well.
But if you are a beginner pasta maker, it is much easier to work with small pieces of dough at a time.
It is especially helpful to do this with whole wheat pasta to prevent the bran from tearing through.
As a result, this recipe divides the dough and also the sheets of pasta so that they are more manageable.
As you get more proficient with pasta making, feel free to work with longer sheets of dough at a time.
Cutting the Dough Sheets into Noodles
With my pasta machine, I typically use the fettuccine sized cutter.
The angel hair cutter is simply too small to work with my whole grain pasta.
You will want to wait until your dough sheets have dried slightly before you pass them through the fettuccine cutter.
The dough should be pliable and dry to the touch.
If you wait too long however, the dough sheet will start breaking.
Usually waiting around 15 minutes works well but that will depend on the temperature and humidity in your workspace.
Wheat Choice
While I experimented with different whole wheat varieties such as hard white wheat, soft white wheat, durum and Kamut, I found that the best flavor and texture for a two ingredient pasta came from both durum wheat and Kamut.
As I discussed in my post on sources of wheat berries, Kamut is related to durum wheat.
When making pasta, durum wheat and Kamut are interchangeable.
These days, it appears that Kamut is easier to source for retail customers and that is why I have titled this post Kamut pasta.
However, if you happen to find durum wheat berries or whole durum flour, the instructions can be followed without any change.
Milled Flour
The beginning of the recipe includes steps for milling Kamut berries.
That is because Kamut, in the durum wheat family, is the hardest type of wheat as the latin name “durum”, which translates to “hard”, implies.
If you are using a micronizer mill, as discussed in this post on choosing a grain mill, you will be able to grind the Kamut in one pass.
If you are using a stone mill, it will be much easier on the mill motor to use two passes as detailed in the step by step guide below.
As you start out, feel free to purchase already milled Kamut flour.
For example, one online option to buy stone milled Kamut can be found here.
Keep in mind it will be best to store your whole grain flour in the freezer for optimal freshness.
If you intend to make your own pasta regularly, it is worth considering investing in a grain mill ( as detailed in this post on choosing a grain mill ) and purchasing your grains in bulk as it typically is more cost effective in the long term.
If you are interested in purchasing Kamut in bulk, this post includes a pdf file download which lists more than 15 online sources of Kamut and durum wheat berries.
As you will discover, freshly made Kamut pasta has an unrivaled tenderness.
Because Kamut is a beautiful golden grain, the resulting whole Kamut pasta has a creamy color even though no eggs have been added.
While some pasta recipes call for including oil in the pasta, whole Kamut flour already has oil in it derived from the nutritious germ rich in vitamin E, omega 3 and omega 6.
Salt
This recipe does not call for any salt to be added to the dough.
You may notice that most store bought pasta made from sifted durum flour does not contain any salt.
I opted to follow the traditional way.
On the other hand, salt is always called for when boiling the pasta at the rate of 10 grams of salt per liter of water which is roughly equivalent to 2 tablespoons of salt per gallon of water.
Iodine can give an off flavor to the pasta and therefore typically a non iodized salt is recommended.
I typically use plain kosher salt.
Equipment
Pasta Machines and Attachments
As explained above, a pasta machine makes the pasta making process so much easier for the beginner pasta maker.
I started out using this one which is reasonably priced, works well and is great for beginners.
I later graduated to an Imperia pasta machine because of the additional attachments it had available:
One additional benefit of the Imperia pasta machine is that it has 6 settings (vs 9 settings for the Isiler brand).
This translates to getting to a thinner sheet of dough faster.
No wonder it’s so popular in Italy where it is made 🙂
Another good option to consider, depending on your budget, is the Mercato Atlas 150 pasta machine which is also made in Italy.
The benefit of getting the Mercato Atlas brand is that there are the largest number of attachments available for different pasta shapes should you wish to expand your pasta making skills in the future.
The Mercato pasta machine has 15 settings which may be worth it for those who plan on making a great variety of pastas.
Both the Imperia and the Mercato brands can be motorized.
If you are interested in making pasta often and already have a KitchenAid, then getting the KitchenAid pasta attachments might be a good investment for you in the long term.
Digital Scale
A digital scale such as this one is very useful because precise measurements allow for more consistent results.
Rolling Pin
A rolling pin such as this one is helpful to stretch out the dough in the beginning although, in a pinch, any uniform cylindrical glass jar will work.
Dough Whisk
A Danish dough whisk is one of my favorite dough mixing tools as it avoids getting my hands dirty when the dough is at the beginning sticky stage.
Baking Mat
In order to contain the floury mess, I like to work on a silicone baking mat such as this one which includes a plastic dough scraper and rolling pin.
This way, when I am done, I can simply fold it up and go rinse it off in the sink.
Dough scraper
If you choose to work on a silicone baking mat, then it is best not to use any metal tools to cut the dough sheets as they can damage the baking mat.
Therefore a plastic or silicone dough scraper is a better choice.
Bowl
As for bowls, while any medium sized bowl with work for this recipe, the one I use is part of a Viking bowl set which I received as a gift.
The nice thing about this bowl set is that the lids are airtight which is a plus when handling dough that you do not want to dry out.
Pasta Pot
As for the pasta pot, I prefer to use a 10 inch wide, 5-quart stainless steel sauté pan with a glass lid such as this one.
The wide pan allows room for the freshly made pasta to float to the surface easily and reduces the chances of pasta pieces sticking to each other.
Strainer
To retrieve the pasta in batches, it is helpful to have a spider strainer such as this one.
Conclusion
These days, when I make fresh pasta, I get rave reviews and nothing gets left on the plate.
Wishing you an equally delicious experience!
2 Ingredient Kamut Pasta
Equipment
- 1 digital scale ( alternate: measuring cup )
- 1 grain mill ( if grinding Kamut berries )
- 1 Danish dough whisk ( alternate: fork )
- 1 silicone bowl scraper ( alternate: plastic knife )
- 1 non stick baking mat ( optional )
- 1 6-quart wide saute pan ( alternate: pasta pot )
- 1 spider strainer ( alternate: spaghetti server )
Ingredients
Pasta
- 200 g Kamut berries ( 1 ½cups ) ( alternate: store bought whole Kamut or durum flour )
- 110 g filtered water ( ½ cup ) ( alternate: distilled water )
Dusting surfaces
- all purpose flour or spare Kamut flour
Pasta water
- 40 g non iodized salt ( 2 tablespoons ) per 4 liters (roughly 1 gallon) of water
Instructions
Prepare the flour
- Measure out 200 grams of Kamut wheat berries.
- If using a home stone mill, set to coarse grind and mill into cracked Kamut.
- After coarse grind is milled, set mill to fine grind and pass the cracked Kamut through.
Mix the dough
- Using a Danish dough whisk, combine the flour and water until you get to a crumbly dough.
- Use hands to roll dough into a ball, and let rest in a tightly covered bowl or closed Ziploc bag for an hour at room temperature or up to half a day in the refrigerator.
Pasta Machine Kneading
- Retrieve dough from bowl and separate into two parts with bowl scraper.
- Keep one part in covered bowl as you work on the other part.
- Flour dough generously with all purpose flour so it will not stick to roller.
Pass through first setting 6 times
- Flatten dough out with a rolling pin to slightly less than the width of the pasta machine opening and around 5 millimeters in thickness (about a quarter inch).
- Set pasta machine to widest opening and pass the floured dough through.
- Using longest part of dough, fold right third over to the center.
- Fold left third over to the center as in folding a letter.
- Use rolling pin to flatten dough slightly then pass through the pasta machine again at the same setting.
- Repeat this process six times to achieve a well kneaded dough.
- Fold dough over another time before returning to bowl and covering.
- Follow same process to knead remaining piece of dough.
Rest
- Rest the dough for 30 minutes at room temperature or up to half a day in the refrigerator.
Stretch out the dough
- Retrieve one of the two folded dough pieces from bowl.
- Flour and roll out with rolling pin to about a quarter inch thickness.
- Pass dough through setting 1.
- Change to setting 2 and pass dough through.
- Continue to pass dough through setting 3 and then 4.
- After setting 4, divide dough sheet into two.
- Pass dough sheets sequentially through settings 5, 6 and 7.
- At setting 7, the dough should be thin enough that you can see through it.
- Divide dough sheets another time using bowl scraper edge. You should have 4 sheets around 10 inches in length.
- Leave the dough sheets to dry on a flat non stick surface for around 15 minutes while you repeat the same process to stretch out the piece of dough left in the covered bowl.
Cut the fettucine noodles
- Once the dough sheets are slightly dry but still pliable, start passing the sheets through the fettuccine roller setting.
- Flour the noodles after they exit the cutter and move them around gently so that they are well coated on all sides and do not stick to each other.
- At this stage, noodles can be left to dry at room temperature if desired. In such a case, turn them around a few times over a day or two and then place in freezer. Whether cooking the noodles fresh or from the freezer, same instructions below apply.
Cook the noodles
- Bring a wide pan of salted water to a rolling boil.
- Place half of the noodles in the pot and wait until they float to the surface.
- Once the noodles have floated to the surface, set timer for 3 minutes. By then noodles should be soft but still chewy.
- Remove noodles with a spider and place in a bowl.
- Return pot of water to a boil and add remaining noodles.
- Flavor noodles with sauce of your choice and serve immediately.
- Enjoy some of the best noodles you are likely to have ever tasted! 🙂
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